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Boy, 17, on Trial with Father for Murder; Milliken University Professor Has Dark Past; Attorneys Show Softer Side of Accused Mob Boss.

Aired August 02, 2013 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Attorneys for a 17-year-old boy are trying to prove the father is the one, the only one who killed the boy's 14- year-old stepbrother. Trey Zwicker was beaten to death behind a high school in Louisville, Kentucky. His stepfather, Joshua Gouker, pled guilty to the murder and is now serving life in prison. But Gouker's son, Joshua Young, his son, is on trial, too, charged with complicity to murder and tampering with evidence.

The defense's expert, former Kentucky state medical examiner, Dr. George Nichols is not available to testify next week so -- this is rare -- the defense got to call him in the middle of the prosecution's case. This morning, he got off the stand and did a demonstration on the defense attorney of how he says Trey Zwicker was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. GEORGE NICHOLS, FORMER KENTUCKY STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER: Turn backwards. Whack. Now -- I hate to speak to --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: That's all right.

NICHOLS: And then, now I don't know the exact sequence. It could be from head up, like this. Only requires one person, one instrument.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: One person, one instrument there. That was from a defense expert.

Joining me now, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Jeff Gold, and attorney, Brian Kabateck.

Jeff, let me start with you.

Dr. Nichols admitted on cross-examination, despite the fact he was testifying he thought it was one person, one attacker there, on cross- examination he said that there could have been more than one attacker. Reasonable doubt?

JEFFREY GOLD, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: Look, yeah, maybe so, John. This is a human drama going on in Kentucky here. You have a dad who first dimes out his own son and then later decides that he's going to take the heat himself. And at his own arraignment yells out that I'm the one who did it alone. So now he's pled guilty. His son is now being charged as an accomplice. He was originally charged as the sole murder but now that charge is being taken away and he's charged as an accomplice. There's experts for both sides of this case as there are in many homicides. It will come down to perhaps the testimony of the dad who will be called by the state and cross-examined on his own original statement.

BERMAN: And a father who may have to call out his son at some level or try to protect him at another level.

Yesterday, we learned a lot about the defendant, Josh Young, from his stepmother, also the victim's mother, Amanda McFarland. Let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA MCFARLAND, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Josh showed more of an aggressive personality. He joked on people, teased and made fun of. Trey had a more laid back softhearted, kind, who didn't joke on people.

Trey had his own reasons. He made comments that he did not like Josh young. Young starts laughing, hey, Trey, guess what I did? I stabbed the dog in the neighborhood in the nose. Ha, ha, isn't that funny? No, man, that's sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She said that Josh showed more of an aggressive personality.

Brian, how do you think comments like that affect the jury?

BRIAN KABATECK, ATTORNEY: It's an interesting comment because you're really starting to tread into character evidence, which generally isn't the kind of evidence you can get in, in a case like this, to say, hey, the defendant here is a bad person, the defendant is a bad type person. But the prosecution's obviously searching for some sort of a motive because they have the stepfather, they already have him having confessed it to, changed the story to swap back to say he did it alone, he did it with his son. But then you move on to this 15- year-old and they're looking -- obviously, they're looking for some sort of a motive that this kid would have had at the time and why he did exactly what he did. He was very young.

I think this defense breaks down into it wasn't me, I wasn't there and if you don't believe that, I might have been there but I didn't do anything. And finally, well, I was there and did something but I was under the Svengali fix of my father telling me to do it. It will be very organic. This kind of character evidence is unusual in a criminal case.

BERMAN: A lot of different angles to be played there for sure.

Jeff Gold, Brian Kabateck, stay with us and we'll come back to you in a little bit.

A professor has a deep, dark secret past, and it's something none of the students could imagine is true. We'll tell you what he's hiding when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So for residents of a small town in Illinois, it could well be the shock of their lives. This morning, they're trying to get a handle on the revelation that a long-time psychology professor at Millikin University shot and killed his parents and sister nearly 50 years ago. Some of the town of Decatur are calling for James St. James to resign.

More now from Megan Brilley of our affiliate, WCIA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TASHA TUZAN (ph), STUDENT: How many of us really know our professors?

MEGAN BRILLEY, REPORTER, WCIA (voice-over): Tasha Tuzan (ph) has realized just how much she didn't know about hers. James St. James was her first professor at Millikin and says she learned a lot from him.

TUZAN (ph): But I have this mental image of this man that I learned from and that hundreds and hundreds of kids have learned from

BRILLEY: Now she has a different image that is hard to shake, bloody photographs of the crime scene where St. James shot his dad in the chest and mother and sister in the chest in the face.

TUZAN (ph): It hurt my heart because -- I'm torn.

BRILLEY: A report for the Texas newspaper, "The Georgetown Advocate" had been trying to figure out where St. James was after nearly 50 years of this horrific crime. When they found the once-deemed insane man was a professor here, they broke the story.

TUZAN (ph): I cried because I'm a student but I'm also a mom. I can't even imagine. My son is 14 and he was 15. I just can't imagine anybody going through that.

BRILLEY: Even now, knowing his bloody path, Tuzan (ph) and dozens of their classmates agree they'll still recommend St. James' classes to any.

TUZAN (ph): He has done what our court system is set up for him to do and he did it and he has went above and beyond to, I think, used that experience to teach us students and to improve other people's lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So we have received a statement from Millikin University that reads in part, "Millikin University has only recently been made aware of Dr. St. James' past. Given the traumatic experiences of his childhood, Dr. St. James' efforts to rebuild his life and obtain a successful professional career have been remarkable.The university expects Dr. St. James to teach at Millikin this fall."

So that answers one big question. The university says he is coming back.

Joining us with their legal take on this story, criminal defense attorney, Jeffrey Gold, and attorney, Brian Kabateck.

Jeff, I want to talk with you.

Anything bother you in this case from a legal perspective?

GOLD: Well, no, not from a legal perspective. The fellow was adjudged not guilty by reason of insanity. What you do in those cases, you put them away and see whether or not you can help them, cure him, so to speak. When doctors determine that, usually with the approval of a court, then the defendant is released. He has been released and apparently made a life for himself. We don't know what really happened.

Now, on the other hand of it, should somebody be able to change their name after something like a "not guilty by reins of insanity," so that they can go off and perhaps teach with children and not be, you know, properly researched. That worries me a little bit. But legally, no. He's done exactly what he's supposed to do, rehabilitate himself.

BERMAN: Brian, you could say legally speaking the system worked. St. James spent time in a psychiatric hospital, rehabilitated himself, he got out, managed to become a professor at a college. Is that something we should be impressed with in society?

KABATECK: I don't know if we're impressed with it or not impressed with it. It does seem like the system worked. Remember, he was 15 years old when this happened. The justice system treats minors, who were prosecuted as minors opposed to those prosecuted as adults, very differently. If he was 15 and his record was sealed or partially sealed even though a very public case. Yet, he went about his life. He was rehabilitated. There's probably not even any grounds to fire him. Remember, he would have to lied somewhere along the way to lose his tenure and be fired from the university. So I don't think the university has the grounds to get rid of him.

I don't think that society has further allegations or charges against him he's done anything wrong. And if the university is happy with him, he's lived 45 years plus of his life without any kind of blemish on his record, I think it's time everybody move on past this, despite what horrifically occurred four or five decades ago.

BERMAN: Jeff, Brian brings up a good point there. There's no proof this professor lied when he got a job at the university. Normally, when we all apply for jobs, sometimes they ask us questions, like, for instance, have you ever been convicted of a crime? I guess he hasn't been convicted.

Jeff, should he have told the university of his past at the time he was hired?

GOLD: That's a really good question. I see these types of questions being asked by clients all the time, and I ask them to read me the exact question they're being asked because they're all phrased differently. Some say "arrested," some say "convicted," some say even if you were "adjudged not guilty." Does a university have a right to inquire as to the facts? For example, let's say you were going to be a police officer instead of a teacher? Wouldn't they want to know these kinds of things regardless whether you're convicted? The only reason not to hire somebody may not be because you were convicted of something but other character issues, so they could consider it. I don't know what they asked him. Did they ask him, have you ever been arrested? He may have lied on the application because he had a different name and thought he could get away with it. So there is some concern about that. Although, I agree, overall, the guy did probably the right thing, which was rehabilitate himself.

BERMAN: Really interesting this is going on for so long.

Thank you, Jeff Gold, Brian Kabateck. Appreciate you being here.

46 minutes after the hour right now. Can an accused mob boss have a softer side? That's what Whitey Bulger's lawyers are trying to show right now. We'll take a look at these photos and why we're seeing them. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: CNN has just learned that notorious crime boss, James Whitey Bulger, will not testify in his own defense. He stood up and called the proceedings a sham, saying he didn't get a fair trial. He's charged with murder, racketeering and extortion.

We have also learned he's prepared to forfeit the $822,000 found bundled in the wallet in his apartment when he was arrested two years ago. And it gets better. His attorney said he will give the family of two of the men he's accused of murdering.

So is this Bulger's softer side? Look at him with this picture of this animal. His attorneys are releasing photos showing him in normal, every day settings. All of this apparently to massage his image.

Let's bring back our legal team, Jeff Gold and Philadelphia criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Brian Kabateck, and attorney in Los Angeles.

Thank you guys for being with us again.

Brian, let me start with you.

Are you surprised that Bulger is not going to testify?

KABATECK: I'm real surprised because this trial looked to me for this 83-year-old alleged racketeering criminal, career criminal, it looked to be like his last stand. Like this was going wanted to put it on. He wanted it out there, who he was, what he was. I'm surprised he didn't take the stand.

Most often we don't see criminal defendants, see them take the stand. We don't see them getting on the stand and testifying. It's usually a bad idea. I'm sure he received that advice from his lawyer. But I did get the feeling he's, to some extent, running the show here. I thought he would want to testify and get his story out.

So probably these pictures that are being released now are some way he can say, see, I'm a good looking guy, I'm a decent guy, look at me that way and see me that way. But, yeah, I'm surprised he's not testifying.

BERMAN: Brian, you bring up a good point. At times, this trial hasn't seemed it isn't some much about guilt or innocence, but a stage for Whitey Bulger to get up and say things, to present himself and massage his image, as you say.

Jeff, his attorney has got to be happy he's not getting on the stand.

GOLD: Yeah. I disagree with Brian. You don't want him testifying. You want him to testify if he could be a great actor. But he's not going to be great actor. He's a mobster. He's been on the lam for most of that time. He's offering to pay the victims. He seems kind of (INAUDIBLE) to me now. I don't know what he would do but he wouldn't come off soft. They want a portrait of the god father in the tomato garden. That's what they're trying to do. Jury nullification. Forget about the facts, he's an 83-year-old old man, think of your grandfather. Once he gets up there and starts cursing and whatever else he's going to do, because that's who he is, they're not going to like him.

BERMAN: Jeff, what about the fact that he's offering to give some $800,000 to the families of two of his alleged victims. Isn't that an admission of guilt, Jeff?

GOLD: Well, look, at this point, what they're saying is again, as you noted, he's trying to do the softer side. It's not. They can forfeit the money any way. He's just saying it as a gesture. He's trying to link it to those families that couldn't get it because of the statute of limitations. He's trying to be a kindly old gentleman. It's minor. The fact he's not going to testify is what I expected. I don't think it's going to help him because I don't think the jury, unless they have been bought off, can nullify.

BERMAN: Jeff Gold, Brian Kabateck, thank you so much for being here today. Appreciate it.

Up next, meet a surgeon living out his father's dying wish. This week's "CNN Hero," coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: In the central African nation of Cameroon, many go without medical attention. Growing up poor, Georges Bwelle was unable to help his gravely ill father who suffered 23 years due to the lack of affordable health care. Now, a surgeon, he is living out his father's dying wish, devoting his time providing free medical care to his country. Meet this week's "CNN Hero."

GEORGES BWELLE, CNN HERO: For a country like mine, people like to drink, dance and enjoy life. With poverty, they cannot enjoy their life.

If I can help two or three people, that's great.

(SHOUTING)

BWELLE: I tell saw my father ill for 23 years. Before my father pass away he say you see how people suffer to see a doctor. If you be a doctor, help people.

My name is Georges Bwelle. I bring free surgery and health services to people.

(SHOUTING)

BWELLE: They're beating the drums to say thanks.

They can live 60 kilometers around and they come on foot.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

We are starting by doing consultation. And in afternoon, we have a list of patients that we are going to operate.

We need generator because there's no light.

We are doing around 40 surgical operations for free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why they bought me here. This will change my future. This will change my family.

BWELLE: We leave for address to all the patient that if there's any problem they can come back to us.

(SHOUTING)

BWELLE: I try to help people and they are happy.

(MUSIC)

BWELLE: I'm doing that to give them opportunity to restart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: What a man, what a story.

We need your help to find great stories like these. Go to CNN.com to nominate someone you know who is making a difference, someone who deserves to be recognized.

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